Wales

Improving poor housing could save NHS 'millions'

A conference will be told that improving poor housing in Wales could save the NHS £67m pounds a year. The Welsh Government says it is investing £36m pounds this year to make homes in Wales' poorest communities more energy efficient.

The Welsh Government says it plans to invest millions in improving housing in some of Wales's poorest communities.

The statement comes ahead of a conference of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, which is expected to hear that action and advocacy on housing could save the NHS nearly £70 million a year.

"We recognise that the benefits of good housing extends beyond the basic requirement for somewhere to live and that quality of a person’s home can affect many aspects of their lives including their health...We want all social landlords to maintain their housing stock to Welsh Housing Quality Standards and have allocated £108m a year to help Social Landlords to upgrade stock to meet these Standards.

This year alone we are investing £36 million to make homes in some of Wales’s poorest communities more energy efficient, alongside an additional capital investment of £70 million to tackle fuel poverty over the next two years. We are making these significant investments at a time of budget cuts because we recognise how difficult it is for many households in Wales to pay their heating bills."